Java 7 Update 13 Now Available for OS X, Complete with Web Plug-in

Oracle takes a lot of heat for Java 7 and rightfully so, but give them some credit for moving swiftly to lift an Apple-imposed block on the web plug-in mere days after it was first implemented.

MacRumors reported Friday that Oracle has released an update to Java 7 which appears to remove Apple's blockade on the web-based plug-in as well as introduces another heaping helping of fixes for security vulnerabilities.

The new Java 7 Update 13 comes bearing a version number 1.7.0_13-b20, but Oracle has also released an update to the previous Java 6 as well, even though it was not initially blocked by Apple.

In all, the updates contain fixes for more than 50 issues, and Oracle notes that the release was accelerated to address a particularly nasty exploit found lurking in the wild.

"The original Critical Patch Update for Java SE – February 2013 was scheduled to be released on February 19th, but Oracle decided to accelerate the release of this Critical Patch Update because active exploitation 'in the wild' of one of the vulnerabilities affecting the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) in desktop browsers, was addressed with this Critical Patch Update," Oracle noted in their release notes.